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A Roth IRA conversion allows you to move a sum of money from a traditional/rollover IRA into a Roth IRA, pay the taxes due, and thereby convert the future distributions into a tax-free stream out of the Roth IRA for yourself or your heirs. You probably already know that the IRS requires you to start taking mandatory distributions from your traditional IRA when you turn 70 1/2, even if you don’t actually need the money. A Roth IRA has no such annual minimum distribution requirement for the original owner and spouse. So the question is: can you do a Roth conversion at that late date, and thereby defer distributions forever?

The answer is that you CAN do a Roth conversion at any time, including after age 70 1/2. But that might not be ideal tax planning. Why? Because at the time of the conversion, you would have to pay ordinary income taxes on the amount converted—basically, paying Uncle Sam up-front for what you would owe on all future distributions. So, from a tax standpoint, you’re either paying taxes on yearly distributions or all at once. (Or, if it’s a partial conversion, on the amount transferred over.) If the goal was to avoid having to pay taxes on that money until you needed it, the conversion kind of defeats the purpose. Unless, of course, you have little other taxable income, and adding a Roth Conversion amount costs you little or nothing in taxes

The traditional reason people made Roth conversions was to pay taxes at a lower rate today than the rate they expect to have to pay on distributions in the future. They might also want to convert in order to leave the Roth IRA dollars to heirs who might be in a higher tax bracket (keep in mind that a heir who is not your spouse is required to take a minimum, albeit non-taxable, distribution from a Roth IRA). But with the new Republican Administration taking over, and Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, tax rates are odds-on favorites to go down, not up, in the near future.

If you still want to go ahead and make a conversion after the mandatory distribution date, the law says that you have to take your mandatory withdrawal from your IRA before you do your conversion. That means that you can’t make a 100% conversion of your traditional IRA if you are subject to minimum distribution requirements. Regardless, you or your tax advisor should “run the numbers” to ensure that you understand the taxes and tax rates that apply before and after the Roth Conversion.

If you would like to review your current investment portfolio or discuss any other tax or financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first. If you are not a client yet, an initial consultation is complimentary and there is never any pressure or hidden sales pitch. We start with a specific assessment of your personal situation. There is no rush and no cookie-cutter approach. Each client is different, and so is your financial plan and investment objectives.

On December 18, 2015, Congress approved the “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015”, which includes provisions that impact 529 plans. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law the same day.

Computers

Previously, 529 rules treated computers as a Qualified Higher Education Expense only if the beneficiary’s college required them as a condition of enrollment or attendance. Under the new law, computer equipment and related hardware qualify even if they are not specifically required by the university, college, or technical school the beneficiary attends, although they must be used primarily by the beneficiary while enrolled in school. The new law defines desktop computers, laptops, and other related technology as a Qualified Higher Education Expense. The costs for Internet access and computer software related to a beneficiary’s studies also qualify.

The new law is retroactive to expenses incurred since January 1, 2015. So if your beneficiary purchased a computer or related technology any time in 2015 to use while in college, funds from a 529 account can be used to cover the cost if the withdrawal was made by Thursday, December 31.

Refund Re-contribution

The PATH Act also gives 529 account owners a 60-day window to re-contribute refunds from Eligible Educational Institutions into their accounts. The law is retroactive for withdrawals made during 2015.

Under the new law, account owners have 60 days from the date of the refund to redeposit a refund of Qualified Higher Education Expenses into the same 529 account from which the money was withdrawn. For example, if a beneficiary receives a refund from an Eligible Educational Institution because he or she withdrew from school due to an illness or other unforeseen circumstance, the refund may be returned to the beneficiary’s 529 account and would not be deemed a non-qualified withdrawal or be subject to any taxes or tax penalties.

The re-contribution cannot exceed the amount of the refund.

The law is retroactive to January 1, 2015.

Account owners who received a refund of Qualified Higher Education Expenses between January 1, 2015, and December 18, 2015, the date the law was enacted, have until February 16, 2016 — 60 days from the enactment date for the PATH Act of 2015 — to redeposit the money.

Account owners who receive a refund of Qualified Higher Education Expenses on any date after December 18, 2015, have 60 days from the date of the refund to redeposit the money.

It is recommended that account owners keep a receipt of refunds in order to have documentation of the amount of the refund and the date it was issued.

If you would like to review your current investment portfolio or discuss any other financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first. If you are not a client yet, an initial consultation is complimentary and there is never any pressure or hidden sales pitch.

Even though April 15 now seems a distant deadline for filing your 2015 tax returns, in order to take advantage of some of the biggest tax reduction strategies, you have to act before the end of this year. Without further ado, here are three “go-to” maneuvers that you may want to execute by December 31.

1. Maximize Contributions to Tax-Advantaged Accounts

Contributing to your employer’s retirement plan is one of the smartest tax moves you can make. For 2015 (and 2016) you can save up to $18,000, or $24,000 if you are age 50 or older. Because contributions are typically made on a pretax basis, qualified plans such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s help to lower your current taxable income. Plus, the money in the account is allowed to grow tax deferred until you begin taking withdrawals, usually in retirement.1

If you are interested in supplementing your contributions to your employer’s plan, you may be eligible to fund a traditional IRA with a deductible or non-deductible contribution. You can contribute up to $5,500 in 2015 and 2016, adding $1,000 to that total if you are 50 or older and catching up on your retirement savings. Like 401(k)s, IRAs offer a “one-two punch” in tax savings: tax deferral on your investment until you start withdrawing money, along with a potential tax deduction on all or part of your annual contribution if you meet the IRS’s eligibility rules.

You could also direct your savings to a Roth IRA or a Roth 401(k), if offered by your employer. Although contributions to Roth retirement vehicles are made with after-tax dollars, withdrawals are tax free provided certain conditions are met. Keep in mind that the annual contributions limits for 2015 — $18,000 per individual or $24,000 for those age 50 or older — apply cumulatively to all employer-sponsored plans, Roth or traditional.

Even though you have until tax day — April 15, 2016 — to fund an IRA for 2015, why wait? Funding it by year-end potentially gives it all the more time to grow in a tax-deferred shelter.

If you’re self-employed or own a small business, you may have just enough time to set up a small business retirement plan before year-end. In some cases, you can wait until next year to fund it, but the plan must be established in 2015 to get the deduction this year.

2. Consider Tax-Loss Harvesting

Simply stated, tax-loss harvesting is the process of balancing portfolio losses against gains to help minimize your exposure to capital gains tax. In a year like 2015, in which the stock market experienced a significant late-summer swoon, such a strategy may be particularly attractive.

Generally, the IRS allows you to offset capital gains with capital losses to the extent of your total gains — and above that, you may be allowed to deduct up to $3,000 against ordinary income each year, thus potentially lowering your tax liability. Losses in excess of that limit can be carried over to the next year.

Yet as simple as this strategy may sound, it is fraught with caveats. For starters, before selling, consider the length of time you have held a security. Securities sold within a year of their purchase can generate short-term capital gains, which are taxed at the investor’s ordinary income tax rate — up to a maximum rate of 39.6% for the highest earning individuals.

Gains from the sale of securities held for more than one year are considered long-term gains and are taxed at a maximum rate of 15% for most Americans, but that rises to 20% for those with taxable incomes of over $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers). In addition, the Medicare surtax on net investment income, which includes capital gains, results in an overall top long-term capital gains tax rate of 23.8% for high-income taxpayers.

Also keep in mind that the IRS prohibits you from claiming a loss on the sale of a security in a “wash sale.” The rule defines a wash sale as one in which an individual sells or trades securities at a loss and then goes on to buy additional shares in the same or substantially identical security within the 30 days before or after the date of sale.

The bottom line on tax-loss harvesting? If you are considering employing this strategy, evaluate carefully the investments you may select for sale, then discuss your plan with a trusted financial advisor. You certainly don’t want to wag the investment “dog” with the tax “tail”.

3. Timing Is Everything

Another popular year-end tax management strategy — particularly if you expect your taxable income to be higher than normal for the 2015 tax year — is to accelerate tax deductions and, where possible, to defer income. For instance, you could increase your charitable deductions or make advance payments for state and local taxes, insurance premiums, interest payments, medical procedures, or other deductible expenses for which you may be able to control the timing. Similarly, you may be able to delay some forms of discretionary income or hold on to stocks that have performed exceptionally well at least until early 2016, being mindful of what you expect your tax/income situation to be next year. Before prepaying any state income or local property taxes, be sure that the alternative minimum tax does not apply to you.

These are just some of the many steps you can take to help keep your taxes in check. Work with your financial and tax advisor(s) to make tax planning an integral part of your overall financial plan.

This communication is not intended to be tax advice and should not be treated as such. Each individual’s tax situation is different. If you would like to review your current tax situation or discuss any other financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first. If you are not a client yet, an initial consultation is complimentary and there is never any pressure or hidden sales pitch.

Disclaimer:

1Withdrawals from traditional IRAs are taxed at then-current income tax rates. Withdrawals prior to age 59½ may be subject to an additional federal tax.

As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to think of planning moves that will help lower your tax bill for this year and possibly the next. Factors that compound the challenge include turbulence in the stock market, overall economic uncertainty, and Congress’s failure to act on a number of important tax breaks that expired at the end of 2014. Some of these tax breaks ultimately may be retroactively reinstated and extended, as they were last year, but Congress may not decide the fate of these tax breaks until the very end of 2015 (or later).

These not yet extended breaks include for individuals: the option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes; the above-the-line-deduction for qualified higher education expenses; tax-free IRA distributions for charitable purposes by those age 70-1/2 or older; and the exclusion for up-to-$2 million of mortgage debt forgiveness on a principal residence. For businesses: tax breaks that expired at the end of last year and may be retroactively reinstated and extended including 50% bonus first-year depreciation for most new machinery, equipment and software; the $500,000 annual expensing limitation; the research tax credit; and the 15-year write-off for qualified leasehold improvements, qualified restaurant buildings and improvements, as well as qualified retail improvements.

Year-end tax planning is included on a complimentary basis for financial planning clients of our firm. Accordingly, clients will be receiving a separate e-mail from us requesting certain 2015 tax information so we can review and assess tax planning opportunities available to them.

Higher Income Earners

Higher-income earners have unique concerns to address when mapping out year-end plans. They must be wary of the 3.8% surtax on certain unearned income, and the additional 0.9% Medicare (hospital insurance, or HI) tax. The latter tax applies to individuals for whom the sum of their wages received with respect to employment and their self-employment income is in excess of an unindexed threshold amount ($250,000 for joint filers, $125,000 for married couples filing separately, and $200,000 in any other case).

The surtax is 3.8% of the lesser of: (1) net investment income (NII), or (2) the excess of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over an unindexed threshold amount ($250,000 for joint filers or surviving spouses, $125,000 for a married individual filing a separate return, and $200,000 in any other case). As year-end nears, a taxpayer’s approach to minimizing or eliminating the 3.8% surtax will depend on his estimated MAGI and NII for the year. Some taxpayers should consider ways to minimize (e.g., through deferral) additional NII for the balance of the year; others should try to see if they can reduce MAGI other than NII; and other individuals will need to consider ways to minimize both NII and other types of MAGI.

The 0.9% additional Medicare tax also may require year-end actions. Employers must withhold the additional Medicare tax from wages in excess of $200,000 regardless of filing status or other income. Self-employed persons must take it into account in figuring estimated tax. There could be situations where an employee may need to have more withheld toward the end of the year to cover the tax. For example, if an individual earns $200,000 from one employer during the first half of the year and a like amount from another employer during the balance of the year, he would owe the additional Medicare tax, but there would be no withholding by either employer for the additional Medicare tax since wages from each employer don’t exceed $200,000. Also, in determining whether they may need to make adjustments to avoid a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax, individuals also should be mindful that the additional Medicare tax may be over-withheld. This could occur, for example, where only one of two married spouses works and reaches the threshold for the employer to withhold, but the couple’s combined income won’t be high enough to actually cause the tax to be owed.

We have compiled a checklist of additional actions based on current tax rules that may help you save tax dollars if you act before year-end. Not all actions will apply in your particular situation, but you (or a family member or your business) will likely benefit from many of them. We can narrow down the specific actions that you can take once we discuss with you a particular plan. In the meantime, please review the following list and contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can advise you on which tax-saving moves to make.

Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Individuals

Recognize capital losses on stocks or funds while substantially preserving your investment position. There are several ways this can be done. For example, you can sell the original holding, then buy back the same securities at least 31 days later, or buy a similar security. It may be advisable for us to meet to discuss year-end trades you should consider making.

Postpone income until 2016, and accelerate deductions into 2015 to lower your 2015 tax bill. This strategy may enable you to claim larger deductions, credits, and other tax breaks for 2015 that are phased out over varying levels of adjusted gross income (AGI). These include child tax credits, higher education tax credits, and deductions for student loan interest. Postponing income also is desirable for those taxpayers who anticipate being in a lower tax bracket next year due to changed financial circumstances. Note, however, that in some cases, it may pay to actually accelerate income into 2015. For example, this may be the case where a person’s marginal tax rate is much lower this year than it will be next year, or where lower income in 2016 will result in a higher tax credit for an individual who plans to purchase health insurance on a health exchange and is eligible for a premium assistance credit. Being subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) may also change this recommendation, so it’s best to “run the numbers”.

If you believe that a tax-free Roth IRA is better than a traditional IRA, consider converting traditional-IRA money invested in beaten-down stocks (or mutual/exchange traded funds) into a Roth IRA if eligible to do so. Keep in mind, however, that such a conversion will increase your adjusted gross income for 2015.

If you converted assets in a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA earlier in the year, and the assets in the Roth IRA account have declined in value, you could wind up paying a higher tax than is necessary if you leave things as is. You can back out of the transaction by re-characterizing the conversion—that is, by transferring the converted amount (plus earnings, or minus losses) from the Roth IRA back to a traditional IRA via a trustee-to-trustee transfer. You can later re-convert to a Roth IRA.

It may be advantageous to try to arrange with your employer to defer, until 2016, a bonus that may be coming your way.

Consider using a credit card to pay deductible expenses before the end of the year. Doing so will increase your 2015 deductions even if you don’t pay your credit card bill until after the end of the year. Again, if the AMT applies to you, this strategy may not work.

If you expect to owe state and local income taxes when you file your return next year, consider asking your employer to increase withholding of state and local taxes (or pay estimated tax payments of state and local taxes) before year-end to pull the deduction of those taxes into 2015 if you won’t be subject to the AMT in 2015.

Consider taking an eligible rollover distribution from a qualified retirement plan before the end of 2015 if you are facing a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax, and having your employer increase your withholding is unavailable or won’t sufficiently address the problem. Income tax will be withheld from the distribution and will be applied toward the taxes owed for 2015. You can then timely roll over the gross amount of the distribution, i.e., the net amount you received plus the amount of withheld tax, to a traditional IRA. No part of the distribution will be includible in income for 2015, but the withheld tax will be applied pro rata over the full 2015 tax year to reduce previous quarterly underpayments of estimated tax.

Estimate the effect of any year-end planning moves on the AMT for 2015, keeping in mind that many tax breaks allowed for purposes of calculating regular taxes are disallowed for AMT purposes. These include the deduction for state property taxes on your residence, state income taxes, miscellaneous itemized deductions, and personal exemptions. Other deductions, such as for medical expenses of a taxpayer who is at least age 65, or whose spouse is at least 65 as of the close of the tax year, are calculated in a more restrictive way for AMT purposes than for regular tax purposes. If you are subject to the AMT for 2015, or suspect you might be, these types of deductions should not be accelerated.

You may be able to save taxes this year and next by applying a bunching strategy to “miscellaneous” itemized deductions, medical expenses and other itemized deductions. Check to see if deferring the payment of 2015 deductions until 2016 provides more benefit.

You may want to pay contested taxes to be able to deduct them this year while continuing to contest them next year. Check with your tax accountant before doing this.

You may want to settle an insurance or damage claim in order to maximize your casualty loss deduction this year.

Be sure to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA or 401(k) plan (or other employer-sponsored retirement plan). RMDs from IRAs must begin by April 1 of the year following the year you reach age 70- 1/2. That start date also applies to company plans, but non-5% company owners who continue working may defer RMDs until April 1 following the year they retire. Failure to take a required withdrawal can result in a penalty of 50% of the amount of the RMD not withdrawn. If you turned age 70- 1/2 in 2015, you can delay the first required distribution to 2016, but if you do, you will have to take a double distribution in 2016—the amount required for 2015 plus the amount required for 2016. Think twice before delaying 2015 distributions to 2016, as bunching income into 2016 might push you into a higher tax bracket or have a detrimental impact on various income tax deductions that are reduced at higher income levels. However, it could be beneficial to take both distributions in 2016 if you will be in a substantially lower bracket in that year.

Increase the amount you set aside for next year in your employer’s health flexible spending account (FSA) if you set aside too little for this year. Estimate your expenses carefully since this is a “use it or lose it” type of deduction.

If you are, or can make yourself eligible to make health savings account (HSA) contributions by Dec. 1, 2015, you can make a full year’s worth of deductible HSA contributions for 2015.

Make gifts sheltered by the annual gift tax exclusion before the end of the year and thereby save gift and estate taxes. The exclusion applies to gifts of up to $14,000 made in 2015 to each of an unlimited number of individuals. Your spouse can give the same person up to $14,000 as well. Consider gifting appreciated stock or mutual/exchange traded funds to individuals with a lower tax bracket than you. You can’t carry over unused annual gift tax exclusions from one year to the next. The transfers also may save family income taxes where income-earning property is given to family members in lower income tax brackets (who are not subject to the kiddie tax.)

Year-End Tax-Planning Moves for Businesses & Business Owners

Businesses should buy machinery and equipment before year end and, under the generally applicable “half-year convention,” thereby secure a half-year’s worth of depreciation deductions in 2015. Be careful: a “mid-quarter convention” applies when the total depreciable basis of property that was placed in service during the last three months of the tax year is more than 40% of the total depreciable basis of all property that was placed in service throughout the entire year.

Although the business property expensing option is greatly reduced in 2015 (unless retroactively changed by legislation), making expenditures that qualify for this option can still get you thousands of dollars of current deductions that you wouldn’t otherwise get. For tax years beginning in 2015, the expensing limit is $25,000, and the investment-based reduction in the dollar limitation starts to take effect when property placed in service in the tax year exceeds $200,000.

Businesses may be able to take advantage of the “de-minimis safe harbor election” (also known as the book-tax conformity election) to expense the costs of inexpensive assets, materials and supplies, assuming the costs don’t have to be capitalized under the Code Sec. 263A uniform capitalization (UNICAP) rules. To qualify for the election, the cost of a unit of property can’t exceed $5,000 if the taxpayer has an applicable financial statement (AFS; e.g., a certified audited financial statement along with an independent CPA’s report). If there’s no AFS, the cost of a unit of property can’t exceed $500. Where the UNICAP rules aren’t an issue, purchase such qualifying items before the end of 2015.

A corporation should consider accelerating income from 2016 to 2015 if it will be in a higher bracket next year. Conversely, it should consider deferring income until 2016 if it will be in a higher bracket this year.

A corporation should consider deferring income until next year if doing so will preserve the corporation’s qualification for the small corporation AMT exemption for 2015. Note that there is never a reason to accelerate income for purposes of the small corporation AMT exemption because if a corporation doesn’t qualify for the exemption for any given tax year, it will not qualify for the exemption for any later tax year.

A corporation (other than a “large” corporation) that anticipates a small net operating loss (NOL) for 2015 (and substantial net income in 2016) may find it worthwhile to accelerate just enough of its 2016 income (or to defer just enough of its 2015 deductions) to create a small amount of net income for 2015. This will permit the corporation to base its 2016 estimated tax installments on the relatively small amount of income shown on its 2015 return, rather than having to pay estimated taxes based on 100% of its much larger 2016 taxable income.

If your business qualifies for the domestic production activities deduction (DPAD) for its 2015 tax year, consider whether the 50%-of-W-2 wages limitation on that deduction applies. If it does, consider ways to increase 2015 W-2 income, e.g., by bonuses to owner-shareholders whose compensation is allocable to domestic production gross receipts. Note that the limitation applies to amounts paid with respect to employment in calendar year 2015, even if the business has a fiscal year.

To reduce 2015 taxable income, if you are a debtor, consider deferring a debt-cancellation event until 2016.

To reduce 2015 taxable income, consider disposing of a passive activity in 2015 if doing so will allow you to deduct suspended passive activity losses.

If you own an interest in a partnership or S corporation, consider whether you need to increase your cost basis in the entity so you can deduct a loss from it for this year.

These are just some of the year-end steps that can be taken to save taxes. Again, by contacting us, we can tailor a particular plan that will work best for you. We also will need to stay in close touch in the event that Congress revives expired tax breaks to assure that you don’t miss out on any resuscitated tax-saving opportunities.

If you’d like to know more about tax planning or want to discuss other financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first.

As the tax filing deadline approaches, Money Magazine has offered some interesting statistics on our annual ritual. In the early months, the IRS says that roughly 83% of all returns have resulted in refunds, with an average refund of $2,893 per return. In all, roughly eight out of ten filers qualify for a refund, and this year’s refund is in line with previous year averages.

Meanwhile, the IRS website notes that in the past few years, roughly 47% of Americans were below the threshold where they had to pay income taxes—which is where the famous “47 percenters” phrase came from in the Romney presidential campaign. However virtually all of those Americans paid FICA taxes. In all, 185.5 million income tax returns were filed last year, but only 34,000 estate tax returns and just 335,000 gift tax returns. The government collected $1.64 trillion in individual income taxes, compared with $353 billion in business income taxes. In aggregate, Californians paid the most taxes, at $369 billion, well ahead of Texas ($265 billion) and New York ($251 billion). At the other end of the spectrum, the citizens of Vermont paid $4.3 billion and people and companies living in Wyoming paid $4.9 billion,

Finally, there’s an interesting comparison. The King James Bible totals around 700,000 words, whereas the U.S. Federal Tax Code numbers 3.7 million words.

If you would like to review your current tax situation or discuss any other financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first. If you are not a client yet, an initial consultation is complimentary and there is never any pressure or hidden sales pitch.

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One of the oddest things about tax law is the fact that often the rules and regulations are decided by the many court cases that are brought by taxpayers who didn’t follow the rulebook. This happened once again in a recent tax court case, where the Tax Court decided that people can only do one IRA rollover in any one-year period, no matter how many other IRA accounts they happen to have. Never mind that the decision directly contradicted the IRS’s own guidance in its Publication 590 and a number of private-letter rulings issued by the IRS.

Since the so-called Bobrow decision (which may be appealed), a common way to move money from one IRA account to another now has to be monitored closely. The ruling affects situations where an IRA owner takes a distribution from an IRA and then rolls those same funds over to another IRA within 60 days. So long as the same amount of money is put back into an IRA account within that time period, no taxes have to be paid on the distribution of funds (and no 10% additional penalty, if the IRA owner is under age 59 1/2). But now you WILL have to pay taxes–and the penalty, if applicable–if you try to do this again with the same or other IRAs during the same 365-day period.

Fortunately, this rule doesn’t apply to direct transfers, which is the way most professionals prefer to move money between IRA accounts. A direct transfer is exactly what it sounds like: the trustee of one IRA moves the money directly from that account into the hands of a trustee for another IRA account; that is, the money flows directly from one account to the other without the taxpayer ever touching it or putting it into his or her own checking account. Under current rules, even with the Bobrow decision, these kinds of transfers can be done all day long, all year long.

It has always been good advice to use only direct transfers to move IRA funds from one IRA to another. Now it’s even more so.

Incidentally, this once-per-year IRA rollover rule doesn’t apply to rollovers from an IRA to a Roth IRA (commonly known as a Roth IRA conversion). But most advisors prefer to handle those on a trustee-to-trustee basis anyway, to avoid confusion and potential problems with the 60-day rule. Mistakes on transfers can be costly from a tax standpoint, and the way things stand, they can’t be fixed after the fact–unless you decide to take the case to court and hope to reverse the current rule of law, which is far more costly still.

If you’d like to know more about rollover rules or if you want to discuss other financial planning matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website at http://www.ydfs.com. We are a fee-only fiduciary financial planning firm that always puts your interests first.

Year-end planning will be more challenging than normal this year. Unless Congress acts, a number of popular deductions and credits expired at the end of 2013 and won’t be available for 2014. Deductions not available this year include, for example, the election to deduct state and local sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes, the above-the-line deductions for tuition and educator expenses, generous bonus depreciation and expensing allowances for business property, and qualified charitable distributions that allow taxpayers over age 70½ to make tax-free transfers from their IRAs directly to charities.

Of course, Congress could revive some or all the favorable tax rules that have expired as they have done in the past. However, which actions Congress will take remains to be seen and may well depend on the outcome of the elections.

Before we get to specific suggestions, here are two important considerations to keep in mind.

Remember that effective tax planning requires considering both this year and next year—at least. Without a multi-year outlook, you can’t be sure maneuvers intended to save taxes on your 2014 return won’t backfire and cost additional money in the future.

Be on the alert for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in all of your planning, because what may be a great move for regular tax purposes may create or increase an AMT problem. There’s a good chance you’ll be hit with AMT if you deduct a significant amount of state and local taxes, claim multiple dependents, exercised incentive stock options, or recognized a large capital gain this year.

Here are a few tax-saving ideas to get you started. As always, you can call on us to help you sort through the options and implement strategies that make sense for you.

Year-end Moves for Your Business

Employ Your Child. If you are self-employed, don’t miss one last opportunity to employ your child before the end of the year. Doing so has tax benefits in that it shifts income (which is not subject to the Kiddie tax) from you to your child, who normally is in a lower tax bracket or may avoid tax entirely due to the standard deduction. There can also be payroll tax savings since wages paid by sole proprietors to their children under age 18 are exempt from social security and unemployment taxes. Employing your children has the added benefit of providing them with earned income, which enables them contribute to an IRA. The compounded growth in an IRA started at a young age can be a significant jump start to the child’s retirement savings.

Remember a couple of things when employing your child. First, the wages paid must be reasonable given the child’s age and work skills. Second, if the child is in college, or is entering soon, having too much earned income can have a detrimental impact on the student’s need-based financial aid eligibility.

Check Your Partnership and S Corporation Stock Basis. If you own an interest in a partnership or S corporation, your ability to deduct any losses it passes through is limited to your basis. Although any unused loss can be carried forward indefinitely, the time value of money diminishes the usefulness of these suspended deductions. Thus, if you expect the partnership or S corporation to generate a loss this year and you lack sufficient basis to claim a full deduction, you may want to make a capital contribution (or in the case of an S corporation, loan it additional funds) before year end.

Avoid the Hobby Loss Rules. A lot of businesses that are just starting out or have hit a bump in the road may wind up showing a loss for the year. The last thing the business owner wants in this situation is for the IRS to come knocking on the door arguing the business’s losses aren’t deductible because the activity is just a hobby for the owner. Surprisingly, the IRS has been fairly successful recently in making this argument when it takes taxpayers to court. Thus, if your business is expecting a loss this year, we should talk before year-end to make sure we do everything possible to maximize the tax benefit of the loss and minimize its economic impact.

Managing Your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)

Many tax deductions and credits are subject to AGI-based phase-out, which means only taxpayers with AGI below certain levels benefit. [AGI is the amount at the bottom of page 1 of your Form 1040—basically your gross income less certain adjustments (i.e., deductions), but before itemized deductions and the deduction for personal exemptions.] Unfortunately, however, the applicable AGI amounts differ depending on the particular deduction or credit. The following table shows a few of the more common deductions and credits and the applicable AGI phase-out ranges for 2014:

Deduction or Credit

Adjusted Gross Income Phase-out Range

Joint Return

Single/Head of Household (HOH)

Married Filing Separate

American Opportunity Tax Credit

$160,000–$180,000

$80,000–$90,000

No credit

Child Tax Credit

Begins at $110,000

Begins at $75,000

Begins at $55,000

Itemized Deduction and Personal Exemption Reduction

Begins at $305,050

Begins at $254,200 Single, $279,650 HOH

Begins at $152,525

Lifetime Learning Credit

$108,000–$128,000

$54,000–$64,000

No credit

Passive Rental Loss ($25,000) Exception

$100,000–$150,000

$100,000–$150,000

No exception unless spouses live apart

Student Loan Interest Deduction

$130,000–$160,000

$65,000–$80,000

No deduction

Managing your AGI can also help you avoid (or reduce the impact of) the 3.8% net investment income tax that potentially applies if your AGI exceeds $250,000 for joint returns, $200,000 for unmarried taxpayers.

Managing your AGI can be somewhat difficult, since it is not affected by many deductions you can control, such as deductions for charitable contributions and real estate and state income taxes. However, you can effectively reduce your AGI by increasing “above-the-line” deductions, such as those for IRA or self-employed retirement plan contributions. For sales of property, consider an installment sale that shifts part of the gain to later years when the installment payments are received or use a like-kind exchange that defers the gain until the exchanged property is sold. If you own a cash-basis business, delay billings so payments aren’t received until 2015 or accelerate paying of certain expenses, such as office supplies and repairs and maintenance, to 2014. Of course, before deferring income, you must assess the risk of doing so. If you’re considering a gift to a person in a lower capital gains bracket or charity (see below), giving appreciated securities avoids recognition of the capital gains and thereby lowers AGI.

See also It May Pay to Wait until the End of the Year to Take Your IRA Required Minimum Distributions below for a possible extension of a tax provision that expired in 2013.

Charitable Giving

You might want to consider two charitable giving strategies that can help boost your 2014 charitable contributions deduction. First, donations charged to a credit card are deductible in the year charged, not when payment is made on the card. Thus, charging donations to your credit card before year-end enables you to increase your 2014 charitable donations deduction even if you’re temporarily short on cash. As mentioned above, donating appreciated securities gets you a charitable contribution deduction at fair market value without having to recognize the capital gain income.

Another charitable giving approach you might want to consider is the donor-advised fund. These funds essentially allow you to obtain an immediate tax deduction for setting aside funds that will be used for future charitable donations. With these arrangements, which are available through a number of major mutual fund companies, custodians, universities and community foundations, you contribute money or securities to an account established in your name. You then choose among investment options and, on your own timetable, recommend grants to charities of your choice. The minimum for establishing a donor-advised fund is often $10,000 or more, but these funds can make sense if you want to obtain a tax deduction now but take your time in determining or making payments to the recipient charity or charities. These funds can also be a way to establish a family philanthropic legacy without incurring the administrative costs and headaches of establishing a private foundation.

Year-end Investment Moves

Harvest Capital Losses. There are a number of year-end investment strategies that can help lower your tax bill. Perhaps the simplest is reviewing your securities portfolio for any losers that can be sold before year-end to offset gains you have already recognized this year or to get you to the $3,000 maximum ($1,500 married filing separate) net capital loss that’s deductible each year. Don’t worry if your net loss for the year exceeds $3,000, because the excess carries over indefinitely to future tax years. Be mindful, however, of the wash sale rule when you jettison losers—your loss is deferred if you purchase substantially identical stock or securities within the period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the sale date. However, never let the tax “tail” wag the investment “dog”; the sale must make investment sense first, tax sense second (always keep in mind long term investment objectives over short-term tax objectives).

Consider a Bond Swap. Bond swaps can be an effective means of generating capital losses. With a bond swap, you start with a bond or bond fund that has decreased in value, which might be due to an increase in interest rates or a lowering of the issuer’s creditworthiness. You sell the bond or fund shares and immediately reinvest in a similar (but not substantially identical) bond or bond fund. The end result is that you recognize a taxable loss and still hold a bond or shares in a bond fund that pays you similar or more interest than before.

Secure a Deduction for Nearly Worthless Securities. If you own any securities that are all but worthless with little hope of recovery, you might consider selling them before the end of the year so you can capitalize on the loss this year. You can deduct a loss on worthless securities only if you can prove the investment is completely worthless. Thus, a deduction is not available, as long as you own the security and it has any value at all. Total worthlessness can be very difficult to establish with any certainty. To avoid the issue, it may be easier just to sell the security if it has any marketable value. As long as the sale is not to a family member, this allows you to claim a loss for the difference between your tax basis and the proceeds (subject to the normal rules capital loss and wash sale rules previously discussed).

Consider a Roth IRA Conversion. If your highest tax bracket is lower than normal this year, consider a Roth IRA conversion of some of your traditional IRA funds. You may also have some “room” in your current tax bracket that might be able to absorb a small Roth IRA conversion without pushing you into a higher tax bracket. Roth conversions affect AGI, so it’s best done with professional help to understand all the ramifications of the conversion.

Year-end Moves for Seniors Age 701/2 Plus

Take Your Required Retirement Distributions. The tax laws generally require individuals with retirement accounts to take withdrawals based on the size of their account and their age beginning with the year they reach age 701/2. Failure to take a required withdrawal can result in a penalty of 50% of the amount not withdrawn. If you turned age 701/2 in 2014, you can delay your 2014 required distribution to 2015 if you choose. But, waiting until 2015 will result in two distributions in 2015—the amount required for 2014 plus the amount required for 2015. While deferring income is normally a sound tax strategy, here it results in bunching income into 2015. Thus, think twice before delaying your 2014 distribution to 2015—bunching income into 2015 might throw you into a higher tax bracket or bring you above the modified AGI level that will trigger the 3.8% net investment income tax. However, it could be beneficial to take both distributions in 2015 if you expect to be in a substantially lower bracket in 2015. For example, you may wish to delay the 2014 required distribution until 2015 if you plan to retire late this year or early next year, have significant nonrecurring income this year, or expect a business loss next year.

It May Pay to Wait until the End of the Year to Take Your Required Minimum Distributions. If you plan on making additional charitable contributions this year and you have not yet received your 2014 required distribution from your IRA, you might want to wait until the very end of the year to do both. It is possible that the Congress will bring back the popular Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) that expired at the end of 2013. If so, IRA owners and beneficiaries who have reached age 70½ will be able to make cash donations totaling up to $100,000 to IRS-approved public charities directly out of their IRAs. QCDs are federal-income-tax-free to you and they can qualify as part of your required distribution, but you get no itemized charitable write-off on your Form 1040. That’s okay because the tax-free treatment of QCDs equates to an immediate 100% federal income tax deduction without having to itemize your deductions or worry about restrictions that can reduce or delay itemized charitable write-offs. However, to qualify for this special tax break, the funds must be transferred directly from your IRA to the charity. Once you receive the cash, the distribution is not a QCD and won’t qualify for this tax break.

Ideas for the Office

Maximize Contributions to 401(k) Plans. If you have a 401(k) plan at work, it’s just about time to tell your company how much you want to set aside on a tax-free basis for next year. Contribute as much as you can stand, especially if your employer makes matching contributions. You give up “free money” when you fail to participate to the max for the match.

Take Advantage of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). If your company has a healthcare and/or dependent care FSA, before year-end you must specify how much of your 2015 salary to convert into tax-free contributions to the plan. You can then take tax-free withdrawals next year to reimburse yourself for out-of-pocket medical and dental expenses and qualifying dependent care costs. Watch out, though, FSAs are “use-it-or-lose-it” accounts—you don’t want to set aside more than what you’ll likely have in qualifying expenses for the year.

If you currently have a healthcare FSA, make sure you drain it by incurring eligible expenses before the deadline for this year. Otherwise, you’ll lose the remaining balance. It’s not that hard to drum some things up: new glasses or contacts, dental work you’ve been putting off, or prescriptions that can be filled early.

Adjust Your Federal Income Tax Withholding. If it looks like you are going to owe income taxes for 2014, consider bumping up the federal income taxes withheld from your paychecks now through the end of the year. When you file your return, you will still have to pay any taxes due less the amount paid in. However, as long as your total tax payments (estimated payments plus withholding) equal at least 90% of your 2014 liability or, if smaller, 100% of your 2013 liability (110% if your 2013 adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000; $75,000 for married individuals who filed separate returns), penalties will be minimized, if not eliminated.

Don’t Overlook Estate Planning

For 2014, the unified federal gift and estate tax exemption is a historically generous $5.34 million, and the federal estate tax rate is a historically reasonable 40%. Even if you already have an estate plan, it may need updating to reflect the current estate and gift tax rules. Also, you may need to make some changes for reasons that have nothing to do with taxes.

Conclusion

Through careful planning, it’s possible your 2014 tax liability can still be significantly reduced, but don’t delay. The longer you wait, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to achieve a meaningful reduction. The ideas discussed in this article are a good way to get you started with year-end planning, but they’re no substitute for personalized professional assistance. Please don’t hesitate to call us with questions or for additional strategies on reducing your tax bill. We’d be glad to set up a tax or financial planning meeting by calling (734) 447-5305 or assist you in any other way that we can. You can always visit our web site at http://www.ydfs.com